Butterflies are the best! In addition to being tiny, living works of art, they make me think of my maternal grandmother who has always loved them. Naturally, when I saw Tiputini, I fell head over heels for it!

I had the pleasure of working with Felicia on The Quiltmaker’s Butterfly Forest cover quilt, Tiputini. What a quilt! I don’t know which part of the quilt I like the most – the checkerboard sashing, the bold, colorful outer boarder, or the intricate floral wreath and butterfly blocks! There is just so much that draws your eye. It’s such an easy quilt to get lost in. *heart eyes*

When the book came along, I was even more thrilled to see Felicia’s beautiful butterflies come to life in a number of different projects. Of course Tiputini tops my favorites list, being made with Island Batik fabrics and all! 😉 A close second is Easy-Breeze Butterflies, a great design in which you can showcase some of your favorite fabrics and practice your free motion quilting skills (so much negative space to play with)! It also calls for a linen blend background fabric which adds so much texture!

If playing with negative space and quilting is your jam, then Butterfly Rising (not pictured) is calling your name! Its dark butterfly silhouettes against a white background and a-symmetrical layout are a “quilter’s dream”, as Felicia’s longarmer Gina points out on page 45. Seriously, you HAVE to see Gina’s amazing work in this quilt!!

If piecing is more your thing, check out Glitzy-Glam Butterflies (also not pictured) with its cheerful butterfly and flower applique shapes and diamond pieced sashing and triangle boarders. Or, if you’re in the mood for a smaller project, the book includes the Twilight Butterfly Pillow and Funky Butterfly Place Mats, both using Felicia’s classic butterfly shapes in different ways.

GIVEAWAY DETAILS: The good folks at C&T are supplying a copy of the book for each of the hop participants to give away (myself included)! Yay! Enter to win via the Rafflecopter widget at the end of the post. You have two ways to enter – by commenting on this blog post and telling me which of the projects in the book you’d most like to make and why and by following me on Insta. A winner will be chosen Monday, February 27 and notified via email. Non-US winners will receive e-books instead of printed copies.

Can’t wait to see if you’ve won? You can grab your own copy of this book on the C&T website, or ask if your local quilt shop can bring in a copy for you!

Below you’ll find the full hop schedule. Take a look at the previous posts if you’re just now joining us and be sure to join us for the last few days of the hop with Island Batik, Pat Sloan, and the designer herself, Felicia’s World. Rumor has it Island Batik is giving away some fabric goodies along with a copy of the book!! 😉

I was tickled when Tammy asked me to participate in this hop….ok, ok, I begged her to let me play and was thrilled when she agreed to it! 😉 I ADORE the Coastal Mist Signature Collection by Kathy Engle for Tamarinis from Island Batik. It was love at first sight, really – from the moment I saw the strike offs, I knew I had to sew with them. You know the feeling.

But first, let’s talk about Tammy. She is a total BOSS with serious hustle. I’m pretty sure she runs on magic fairy dust, too, which is pretty darn awesome. She teaches, designs quilt patterns, and is a soon-to-be fabric designer! Her design aesthetic is bright and fun – her designs just make you want to sew, sew, sew!

Now on to what you’re really here for – THE FABRIC! The Coastal Mist collection is colored with gorgeous teals, rich plums, and dusty purples and pinks. It really couldn’t have a more fitting name!

Tammy worked her magic with these fabrics in her Boho Bliss quilt, which has both pieced and applique blocks. LOVE IT! Rumor has it, the applique can be done with fusible – yes please!

The fabrics have coordinating Aurifil thread collections hand picked by Tammy – a large spool collection of 50 wt and 12 wt (pictured below), and an Aurifloss collection which is especially perfect for those of us who love hand work!

My little wall hanging, “Seahorsin’ Around” was created in the wee morning hours of this past week. What can I say? When it comes to deadlines, I really like to live on the edge. 😉

I came up with this idea while playing around with the Coastal Mist fabric scans in Illustrator. I created my shapes (and drew out my background blocks) in Illustrator, traced them onto freezer paper, and used Roxanne’s Glue-Baste-It to place them onto my pieced background. I was really hoping to attempt 4th and 6th Design’s edge-coloring applique technique with my applique, but chickened out as I stitched my first stitch.

I opted to go the simple raw edge route instead, tracing each shape two to four times with the same or different thread color. I switched between my walking foot and my darning foot a couple of times for no good reason – I would absolutely not recommend doing this without a valid reason, especially if you’re workin’ past midnight! 😉

Let’s pretend like you don’t notice all the disappearing ink that hasn’t fully disappeared yet…;)

I used some delicious Aurifil 50wt from my thread stash for piecing and 40wt for my top stitching and quilting. Is it just me or is stitch in the ditch literally the worst?! I had BIG quilting plans for this baby, but ran out of time. At least the fabrics and thread are so pretty you don’t really notice. 😉

It was such a joy working with these beauties! Thanks, Tammy, for letting me play!

If you want to get your hands some of these fab fabrics, enter the giveaway via the Rafflecopter widget below – there’s a Coastal Mist precut bundle up for grabs (thanks, Island Batik)!! Or head to your local quilt shop. Don’t see it on your shop’s shelves? Request it, especially if you want to participate in the Boho Bliss Block of the Month!

Our lovely hop goes until February 4th. Here’s the schedule in case you’re new here. 😀 Tomorrow’s stop is at Pink Doxies – see you there!

I’m by no means a designer, but I do appreciate good design and the work and talent that goes into it!

When a friend or relative has a design challenge, I try to help if I can! It’s a fun way to help someone out (and pay it forward for all the design help I’ve been given in my lifetime!) and I usually learn a thing or two along the way. My aunt Mary is an embroidery pro and has a one-woman operation where she makes custom pieces for her customers. She was interested in a logo, so I offered to [attempt to] design one for her!

Here is the first round of designs we put together after discussing some brands she found aesthetically pleasing.

I was really pleased with how they turned out, other than the scissors on #4 looks like an “X” instead of a “K”! After some thought, she landed on logo #6, with the minor change of adding “handmade goods”. I sent another round of logos to pick from, all versions of #6.

We both liked #3 the best – it just “felt right”. So! I mocked up that logo with a couple of print-at-home label concepts to inspire her until she lands on a label design she likes. I envision these printed on kraft card stock from a home printer, trimmed, the punched with a hole punch, then attached to a product with ribbon. Simple and cost efficient!

Thanks for letting me play with these, Auntie Mary! I can’t wait to make up some labels and see them printed and wrapped around your products!

Hello and welcome to my little corner of the web! If you’re new here, I’m Katie, and I’m fabric-OBSESSED. I love it. I think about it all day everyday… I suppose it helps that “fabric” is both my job and my hobby. 😉

I was tickled to be asked to participate in Felicia‘s digital book tour to introduce her fabulous new book/pattern pack, My Cozy Village. I met Felicia through work and have admired her designs for years. I love the nordic details that pop up in some of her projects, and the clean, modern style you see in many of her patterns. Everything she makes has a touch (if not more) of sweetness, which makes them all that more lovely!

The night before I learned of the release of My Cozy Village, I had had the most lovely dream about a quaint Norwegian village. It looked something like Whoville, with wonky houses and everything buried under a foot of snow. But the snow wasn’t cold! It was magical. I was actually a little sad when I woke up – I didn’t want to leave my little dream town!

But! I got to hold onto that dreamy magic just a tiny bit longer. When I sat down to work the following day, I was introduced to Felicia’s newest project! The whimsical homes and scenes in My Cozy Village instantly took me back to my whimsical dream world.

Blocks from left to right, top to bottom:
Town Hall, Good Neighbors, Fire Station
Edge of the Woods, Under the Old Tree, Orchard House
Prim and Proper, By the Lake, Village Church

Even though I’ve only been able to spend a little time with the booklet and pattern pack, I already know I’m going to have a blast with it! What do I love about it? Let me tell you!

1. The booklet showcases two applique quilts – one made by hand applique and another by fusible raw-edge machine applique. I adore anything that can be stitched by hand, but I rarely actually have time for those types of projects! I really appreciate having examples of both available in the book.

The image above shows the hand applique quilt, and here’s the fusible raw-edge machine applique piece! I love how the change in fabrics makes the two pieces look completely different, like villages on opposite ends of the earth.

2. The supply list! Half of what I love about sewing and crafting in general are all the supplies one “needs” to make something! Felicia gives us a wonderful list of supplies needed for creating the My Cozy Village quilt with both hand and machine applique methods, along with details about why each item is helpful when creating your own quilt.

3. The Special Techniques section! With easy to follow steps and images, this part of the book details useful techniques to help you make your own My Cozy Village quilt. Use this section if a technique is new to you or you just need a quick refresher. I especially like the Reverse Applique and Hand Embroidery Stitches features.

4. The blocks! Of course all of the blocks look marvelous when they’re sewn together to make a quilt, but they can stand on their own, too! Each one would make a lovely pillow, or three sewn in a row would make a charming runner.

5. Embroidered embellishment suggestions! The embroidered details add so much whimsey to this quilt. Since hand embroidery is pretty new to me, I appreciate the suggestions provided for each block, along with closeup images so I can see what everything is supposed to look like.

There are so many more things I could say about this book, but I must leave something for you to discover on your own! 😉

Here’s the tiny bit of progress I’ve made on my Under the Old Tree block, using some Island Batik scraps. I think she’s destined to become a pillow for my office….once she’s grown some leaves (and built two chimneys, added some window boxes and sprouted some flowers)! 😉 I’ve used raw-edge machine applique to build this block so far, but I might mix it up and use hand applique for the the leaves and window boxes. What do you think?

***UPDATE*** Giveaway Closed ***UPDATE***

Before you leave, I have a little something for you! Comment below, telling me which block is your favorite (and why!), and enter to win your own My Cozy Village pattern pack and a scrappy bundle of batiks – the same fabrics I’m using in the block above. US residents only, please. Winner will be chosen and announced on March 16th, so be sure to enter before then!

A quick note on the fabrics – they are MUCH more vibrant in person. They only look muted and dusty because, well, I can’t not use my favorite photo filter. 😉

Thanks so much for joining us on the My Cozy Village digital book tour! It was a pleasure having you here. Be sure to swing by Generation Q for the next stop on March 14th. And if you just can’t wait to see if you’ve won your own copy of My Cozy Village (I never can when I read posts like these), you can purchase your very own copy this very moment, right here.

I love making baby quilts! I love wonky stars! I love pink! When I found out my boss’ sister was having a baby girl, I knew exactly what had to be done! 😉

Wonky blocks are THE BEST because pieces and blocks aren’t supposed to be perfect. They are so much fun to work on – you don’t have to think too much and there is very little math involved! 😛

Here’s a very poorly edited shot of my most recent finish:

All the fabrics in the quilt are Island Batik, of course! Some are older SKUs, and some are new (like the few fabrics from the Full Bloom collection). The background is Sprinkles, a delicate white with light grey swirly dots. I use this fabric way too much! It really is the perfect neutral/white batik (not that I’m biased or anything).

The AWESOME quilting was done by my local longarmer, Kristi Ryan. She does such wonderful work and we think alike when it comes to style – I just drop off a top and say, “do whatever you think will look best”. I have yet to be disappointed, and I especially love how she kept the design funky and fun to match the wonky blocks on this piece!

Images from Little Gems by Connie Kauffman, Martingale, 2015; used by permission. Photos by Brent Kane. All rights reserved.

I was delighted to participate in the Little Gems Blog Hop, a hop celebrating the release of talented designer Connie Kauffman‘s new book “Little Gems“, for Island Batik. Connie is such a joy to work with, and the projects in her book were very much the same!

I had the opportunity to make Cotton Candy, a sweet little paper pieced project from the book.

Here’s my remake! I used scraps from work (yes, some I literally pulled from the waste bin) and a few pieces from the new fabric line from Fourth and Sixth Designs, Full Bloom.

This is by far the smallest quilt I have ever made. It was fun, though I did have troubles matching some of those tiny points. Connie made me feel a little better when, after I told her I struggled, saying that this was one of the more difficult projects in the book. Whether it’s true or she was just being kind, I still appreciated it. 😉

Here’s a photo of the original, hanging on an adorable wire stand from Ackfeld Wire.

Images from Little Gems by Connie Kauffman, Martingale, 2015; used by permission. Photos by Brent Kane. All rights reserved.

Best lunch idea ever! Easy to assemble, lasts in the fridge, super easy to grab when you leave for work. I found the recipe below (quinoa, homemade dressing [only four ingredients!], salsa, chickpeas, cherry tomatoes, cilantro) and many more right here. This is the first one I’ve tried and I can’t wait to make more!

I’m SO excited to get started on my All the Pretty Colors quilt by Felicia’s World. While the original quilt calls for Cotton Couture solids, I opted to use Kona solids since the local quilt shop where I was shopping didn’t carry Cotton Couture.

I’m attempting to make THREE of these beauties, actually. Two will have a grey background similar to the original, and one with a grey Essex Yarn Dye in Steel from Kaufman.

Hey there! I'm Katie - quilter, crafter, tea drinker, and nap lover. This little corner of the web is where I like to document my [mostly crafty] shenanigans. Snuggle up with a cup of something yummy and please make yourself at home!